My congratulations to our Police Chief Dave Wareham who is retiring after 32-years of service, and Max Pina after 53-years of service. Two unbelievably stand-up men. We all wish you both happy and productive retirements. Now it's time for the grandkids!

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I'm concerned about the relentless attacks on our Second Amendment by radical liberal groups. As American culture sinks into a bottomless secular state, we are forgetting what our country is all about.

America was solidly founded on Judeo-Christian law and ethics. You can read about it in our Constitution and its amendments, especially in our Bill of Rights. However hard the liberal Left tries to stretch the basic intent of our founding documents (while hiding under those deceptive "penumbras"), citizens familiar with real life logic should not be fooled.

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" means exactly what it says. Clever liberals have always sought to destroy this particular amendment by a process of slow exceptions and regulations. But an infringement by any other name in this context is still unconstitutional. Finding a continuous stream of "reasonable" regulations of the Second Amendment amounts to death by a thousand cuts. Since liberals know they will never be able to get rid of this amendment totally they seek to weaken it, condemning firearms as inherently too dangerous for the average American citizen. These people would have been Loyalists during our Revolutionary War. They want America to be converted into some species of England or Australia where firearms are not allowed, where they have been confiscated.

The issue of firearms in America has revealed a deep constitutional rift between Liberals and conservatives. Right now, conservatives who ardently defend our right to keep and bear arms are on the defensive. Liberals who control 90 percent of the country's media are on the attack, frightening even large corporations into cutting off support to the National Rifle Association. The NRA has been actively involved in promoting the shooting sports to youth since 1903. It is the oldest and most distinguished of such organizations.

In full disclosure, I am, and have been for many years, a life member of the NRA. Its motto is "Freedom's Safest Place". This organization provides numerous firearms safety programs, especially for our youth. Enemies of our Second Amendment constantly misrepresent its purpose. A great American, the late former Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, had this to say about this Amendment:

"...indeed, the right to have arms for personal use (including self-defense)was regarded at the time of the Framing as one of the fundamental rights of Englishmen, described as such by Blackstone, and found in the explicit guarantee of the English Bill of Rights of 1689." Later, "...the Stuart kings had destroyed the people's militia, not by disbanding it, but by disarming those of its members whom they disfavored." Also: It is necessary to judge according to the written law - period." These quotes are taken from the book "Scalia Speaks", with a foreword (believe it or not) by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was a close friend of Scalia's.

So, if one of the true giants of our Supreme Court clings to his right to keep and bear his arms, maybe liberals should take heed. This is a wonderful book which I heartily recommend. It references the Justice's love of hunting, especially turkeys. He also reminisces about his early childhood, when he, as a member of a school rifle team, regularly took his .22 rifle to school, after taking it on public transportation. His recollection precisely recalls a similar time in my youth, when several students took their .22 rifles to school as part of a rifle team. No one paid much attention.

But our culture has changed today, for the worse. The proper exercise of our right to keep and bear arms has never been more important, and respect and support for those individuals and groups who defend this right, like the NRA, is absolutely important. At least a boycott of companies that are disassociating from the NRA should be undertaken.

America is an exceptional country and one of the things that makes it so is our Second Amendment which secures our right to keep and bear arms.